I'm not really sure what to do with this. I mean, I know how popular the Commodore 64 was and still is, and how significant a machine it really was. So, when Commodore USA sends out a press release that it has acquired the rights to produce an exact replica case of the C64 (but with Intel Atom innards), I knew a lot of people would like this. At the same time, Commodore USA's website always seemed a little... Sketchy to me.

I had a similar setup of a C64+speed loader, modified so much it looked like a junkyard sculpture, but it worked very well. I guess your friend just had bad luck, they where very simple and very hackable machines, though i still think the reason for their success was mainly their price tag.